I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR therapist, and Somatic Experiencing therapist. My focus tends to be mind-body oriented psychotherapy. See my profile for more info. This site is not intended as a substitute for psychotherapy. No client-counselor relationship exists between the user and the owner of this site. To set up a consultation with me please call (212) 726-1006. All material on this site is copyrighted and cannot be used without permission.

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Monday, April 29, 2013

Encouraging Medical Doctors to Be More Creative

In a recent New York Times article, Dr. Danielle Ofri raises important issues about encouraging doctors to be more creative in their approach to medical issues (see link below for the article).

Encouraging Medical Doctors to Be More Creative

In my psychotherapy private practice in NYC, I hear many clients complain that their doctors continue to prescribe medications or recommend the same procedures that aren't working for their medical issues.

Now, in all fairness, there can be many reasons for this. Being a doctor today is different from how it was 25 or more years ago.

We know that doctors, especially doctors who still take managed care insurance, often have large medical practices in other to stay in business. Their time is often very limited with each patient. If you're one of the last patients of the day, you might be seeing a very tired and overworked doctor.

Doctors Are Often Pressured to Spend Less Time With Patients, Which Affects Creativity

Even when they want to spend more time with patients, doctors who are part of group practices, are often pressured by the administration to work faster and spend less time with patients so the administration has more billable hours so they remain a viable facility.

In addition, doctors are often limited to what they can prescribe or recommend based on the patient's insurance. He or she might have creative solutions to medical problems, but if the insurance company won't pay for these solutions and the patient can't afford to pay, the doctor is often forced to use medications or recommendations that are approved by the insurance, which might not be the most creative or optimal solution to the problem.

There are many good reasons to have what are considered "best practice" protocols, but often one-size- fits-all protocols don't work, and doctor's hands need to be untied so they can be more creative.

In any case, according to Dr. Ofri, many medical schools are now recognizing that doctors need to be more creative in their approach. This recognition has led to interesting changes at medical school. According to Dr. Ofri, many people scoff at these changes, but she sees the advantages to these changes that encourage doctors to be more creative in their approach.